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UsingFiction asa Ministry Jim Burnett 18 • Winter 2018
Dr. Jim Burnett was raised in Brandon, Mississippi, by his parents, Wayne and Betty Burnett. He has one brother, Mike, who lives in New Orleans, and a sister, Alisa, who along with her husband Mick, moved from Knoxville, Tennessee, about eight months ago so she could be near their parents. They currently live in Brandon in the house and neighborhood in which the family grew up. Burnett was kind enough to submit the following to Hometown Brandon when asked about his life, his ministry, and his writing: Thinking back over my childhood in Rankin County, I have many fond memories. I attended Brandon public school through the seventh grade and then Brandon Academy from eighth grade until graduation. I was very involved in sports—especially football. I also grew up connected with 4-H and think back of the wonderful times we spent out at Hilltop Painted Acres with John Blough and his family. I was an active member of First Baptist Church of Brandon where I was licensed and ordained to preach. I graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and went on to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where I earned my Master of Divinity and later my Doctor of Ministry. I have taught as adjunct professor for the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and had the pleasure of being interviewed on Fox and Friends to discuss the topic of prayer in schools. For the last sixteen years I have served as lead pastor of Willow Pointe Church in Hattiesburg. What a journey it has been since we began this church! God has done amazing things. We have helped start ten other Southern Baptist churches. The body of Christ at Willow Pointe is a close-knit congregation who genuinely cares about one another and honoring and worshipping God. I have pastored four Mississippi churches over my thirty-year tenure in ministry. I have also been a writer for the last twenty-five years, authoring a plethora of leadership articles for Christian magazines. In 2014, I began writing Christian western novels and have now published five, as well as been an active contributor to several anthologies. I am currently working on four other novels, which hopefully will be published in 2019. God is using the messages of my series entitled, “Caller’s Spring Ranch,” in amazing ways. There are many testimonies posted to my Facebook page of how people’s lives have changed after reading some of the books. I refer to these books as the Gospel in a cowboy wrapper. I never imagined using fiction to minister to people, and yet this was the catalyst Jesus himself used in his teaching, more than any other, as he taught truth through parables or fictional stories. Through my writing, I have met people whom otherwise, I’m convinced, I never would have met in a lifetime. It has expanded my ministry in so many ways. I was raised by parents who grew up in Jasper and Smith Counties and later moved to Brandon before I was born. We owned the property where my dad grew up, which was in Pineville, just outside of Forrest, Mississippi. We hunted, fished, and rode horses. I’m married to Kim Burnett and we have three children: Brandon, Nathan, and Emily. We also have three grandchildren: Caroline, Ely, and Ally. Hometown Brandon • 19
Page 1 and 2: volume 5 number 4 winter 2018 MEET
Page 3 and 4: Hometown Brandon • 3
Page 5 and 6: PUBLISHER & EDITOR Tahya Dobbs CFO
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